Online With Hot Shots Golf

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Straight from Japan, a play test of Sony's Online golf game.

By IGN Staff

Right up there with the best of them on the list of PS2 million sellers is Minna no Golf 3, Sony Computer Entertainment and Clap Hanz's first PS2 entry in Japan's most favorite golf series (known as Hot Shots Golf in America). So it makes perfect sense that Sony should use an Online entry in the series to mark the start of the official PS2 broadband gaming program in Japan.

Minna no Golf Online starts with the basic golfing that has made the series a classic and adds chatting features and Online play for up to four simultaneous players. If you've played Online titles before, you can probably figure out the basics, but here goes anyway. You begin by creating your own Online counterpart, selecting from a number of faces, hair styles, clothes and even accessories such as a bag or a ribbon. You then give this character an ID name, which is unique across the game's entire set of players. Other players will be able to seek you out using this ID (it's sorta like an Xbox Live Gamer's Tag, only it's good only for Minna no Golf).

This player becomes your identity in a staging area where you move around a small 3D play field, chatting with up to 30 other players. The game's servers currently have numerous lobby rooms split into various classes, some of which are only accessible under certain conditions. For instance, some lobbies are available only to those in certain age groups. We were thinking about lying about our gender in order to enter a female-only lobby, but there wasn't one available (plus, we're sure most of the people in such a lobby would be liars like ourselves).

Heading out to an Online match involves getting up to four players together and speaking to a receptionist at the lobby's reception desk. You can set up a match over the game's breadth of courses (including mirrored versions) and spanning anywhere from 3 to 9 holes. Your Online personality doesn't actually appear on the field. Instead, once you and your fellow players have agreed to a game, you select a character from the game's standard cast of personable golfers and control that character in play.

Online play is just like Offline play only your counterparts aren't seated beside you. This means that in order to communicate, you have to chat, using either a USB keyboard or your controller and a software keyboard (there's no voice support). The game also features a few preset phrases that range from wishing players good luck to telling them to hurry it up. You can actually set a time limit for each turn ahead of time to make sure someone doesn't take too much time thinking. Those who have to take a bathroom break can select an option from the in-game menu and are given three minutes for their next turn.

Outside of the Online play, Minna no Golf Online can also be played Offline (although you have to connect Online once in order to start the game for the first time, so don't import this sucka' unless you have actual Online access, along with the required hard disk drive). The game can be played Offline by up to four players over a range of courses, most of which are locked from the beginning. You can play Stroke and Match Play modes, and can also have the computer control opponents so you don't feel as lonely as you probably are.

Playing Offline or Online, you'll find basically the same Minna no Golf play that has made this series a hit since the days of the original PlayStation. The main focus, though, is of course the Online play, so how does it hold up? Golf is turn-based, so lag shouldn't be a problem. However, the chatting interface while in a match does manage to suffer from some annoying lag issues as you input characters. This strikes us as inexcusable, as there shouldn't be too much data going back and forth between players, especially considering that the game, in Japan, is broadband only.

Also, the game doesn't take too much advantage of the fact that, when playing Online, each player has her own personal screen. While you can view stats and options at your will while other players are taking their turns, your view of the in-game action is limited to exactly what all the other players see. We could easily imagine something a bit more personal that strays from the Minna no Golf game engine and keeps you in the perspective of your character at all times. Chatting would certainly be more interesting than the little dialogue boxes that currently emerge from your character's Onscreen portrait while in a match.

SCE has included a few features to extend the longevity of the game. Good play earns you points which can be used to purchase items from a shop, some of which (like clubs) affect gameplay and others (like accessories for your character) are merely for show in the chat rooms. Tournaments are planned for the future, including nation-wide bouts between the best players. Finally, because the game is downloaded in its entirety to the PS2 hard disk (we're talking a full 1.5 gigs here), the possibility for Online updates seems very real. We can't wait to see what SCE has in store down the road.

What it all comes down to is that Minna no Golf Online is exactly like its title suggests: Minna no Golf with Online play. While it doesn't offer a virtual golfing world that puts players across the country on a virtual golfing field, it does offer the same fun gameplay that Minna no Golf has always offered along with the ability to play players from far away. We're sure fans will have a blast.